Freedom School Philosophy
Martial Arts Philosophy is not a well known subject in the west. People who stumble upon it are often surprised by the size and depth of this body of knowledge that has grown within eastern martial traditions for centuries. The philosophy of the Freedom School is a new philosophy that focuses on the aspect of freedom in the martial arts. The Art of Freedom
We are not gods, we are human and therefore we have boundaries and limitations. We are bound by the laws of nature at birth and we remain bound by these laws until we die. It is within these boundaries that true freedom can be found. Freedom does not come from ignoring or escaping from the laws of nature. It comes from a deep understanding of nature, understanding of self, and the ability to change and adapt in accord with the movements of nature.
The art of freedom is not a struggle against boundaries. It is the science of using boundaries to take you where you want to go. Its like using water to swim. Freedom is understanding the flow and going with it.
An eagle never struggles against the wind. It uses the wind to take it where it wants to go.
Four Steps to Freedom
• Study and understand your boundaries
• Accept your fixed boundaries
• Push your flexible boundaries
• Drop your illusory boundaries
There are 3 types of boundaries: fixed, flexible and illusory.
Fixed boundaries are the laws of nature and the solid confines of human behaviour. These are things we cannot change, like the fact that we grow older and will die. Fixed boundaries have to be contemplated and accepted fully. A person has denial or delusions about fixed boundaries will always feel confined.
Flexible boundaries are the thing we can change. We can improve our strength, flexibility, concentration and our skills in life. We can also improve our position in life and our relationships with other people. Some flexible boundaries will always be there and some will fall away completely. Pushing boundaries is the object of training in the Freedom School.
Illusory boundaries exist only in the mind and have no real grounding, and yet we all have them. We all have irrational fears or delusions of some sort. These things cloud the mind until they are seen for the ghosts they are and then they can be dropped and transcended instantly. This is called breakthrough. Final transcendence of delusion is called enlightenment. Throughout the ages there have been masters who have reached complete enlightenment, i.e. the complete transcendence of fear and delusion. Reaching complete enlightenment is not so important. If it happens it happens. The object of training is just to work towards it steadily and patiently. Get up after setbacks and always keep your arrow pointing in the right direction!
Train hard.
The Three Treasures
There are many reasons why one might choose to practise martial arts. Some people start out of curiosity, interest or fascination. Some people want to get fit, loose weight, learn self defense, gain confidence or just find a reason get away from the TV…
One of the oldest martial institutions in the world is the Shaolin Temple in China, and there it is said that the only treasures in Shaolin are Kung Fu, Chan (Zen) Buddhism and Chinese Medicine. These are known as the Three Treasures of Shaolin. The three treasures apply to all martial arts. They signify that there are only three things of lasting value to be found in the martial arts, namely fighting skill, spiritual growth and physical health.
No matter how superficial one’s initial intention is with starting training, it is certain that with patience and dedication one will eventually arrive at the three treasures.
The Freedom School explores ways of arriving at these three treasures and in the process creates free individuals.
Fighting Skill brings freedom from fear and oppression, the freedom to walk tall and proud and face the challenges and dangers of life.
Spiritual Growth brings freedom from doubt and delusion, the freedom to be relaxed, calm, collected and content.
Physical Health brings freedom from disease and pain, the freedom to live a long life.
The Freedom of Movement
Freedom of movement is a vital principal of the martial arts. Victory in combat is decided by one’s ability to out manouvre the opponent. Movement must be free and natural. The body must be strong and flexible to be able to follow the commands of the mind, and the mind must have a firm understanding of the body’s abilities as to keep the movement within safe boundaries. The mind’s ability to be “in” the body and move it is acquired through practise and repetition of movement. The brain’s motor functions must be well trained so that no conscious thought is needed to perform martial movements. This gives rise to instantaneous, spontaneous motion. It is very important in combat, as there is no time to figure out how to move. There must be no time lapse between the mind’s intent and the body’s motion.
Motion freedom developes in three ways: * Developement of body * Developement of mind * Developement of mind-body connection i
The freedom of Response
Freedom of response is the ability to react naturally and appropriately to any given situation.
One shortcoming of hard external styles such as full contact karate or kickboxing is that they prepare one for a very limited range of response to a violent situation. A hard stylist has only one trained response, namely to meet his attacker with greater force and knock him out, or to dominate him with violent attack. This reaction might be useful in certain extreme situations, but there are many fight scenarios where a broader range of response is needed.
If one is attacked by someone who is not a true danger, it would be wrong to respond by injuring or knocking him out. Violence is vulgar and the whole point of fighting skill is to end violence and not to propagate it.
There are seven levels of response, ranging from non-violent to violent. If one is to react correctly to any fight situation these seven levels must be understood:
• prevention
• avoidance
• deflection
• projection
• restraining
• striking
• incapacitating
Prevention is stopping a violent situation before it arrises. It demands sensitivity, awareness, psychological insight and clear communication skills. (And running skills)
Avoidance is moving out of the way of the attack and to stay in a safe position. It demands mobility. Techniques include ducking, dodging and eight directional footwork.
Deflection is blocking, parrying or redirecting an incoming attack.
Projection is guiding the attacker to the ground or away from oneself. Techniques include unbalancing, throwing, tripping, sweeping and redirecting the momentum of the attack.
Restraining makes use of locks, pins, pressure point pushing, strangle holds or hold-down techniques to lock down the attacker, restricting his movement and preventing further attack. When an attacker is restrained one can negotiate with him.
Striking: One should have an understanding of the full range of striking. Striking ranges from non-contact guiding strikes, to a soft warning strikes, to full force strikes.
Incapacitating is rendering the attacker unable to continue fighting through injury, pain, shock, knock out or choke out. It is the most violent level and should be avoided. Stopping the Spear: Meaning of the Martial Way
 Budo: the martial way
The spear is a symbol of war or fighting. It is very significant that the original meaning of “bu” and “wu” is not to propagate war or the fight, but to stop it. Therefore the core principal of the martial arts is non-violence.
It is a paradox that confuses many people. How can the martial arts lead to non-violence? Some people argue that only passivism can lead to non-violence. But passivism only stops violence when you are refusing to attack someone else. When you refuse to defend yourself against a wrongful attack you are allowing violence, not stopping it.
Stopping violence is an active process. If violence arises it can be stopped by skilful action. In some cases the best action may be to endure and do nothing (passivism), but not always. The martial arts should give one the tools to do the right thing at the right time, and the wisdom to know what to do and when to do it.
One aspect of the martial arts is the study of violence, but we should never like violence. A martial artist studies violence in the same way as a doctor studies disease: he doesn’t like disease but he studies it so that he can stop it.
Violence is the disease of our society. It has many forms and some of them are very subtle. Verbal and emotional abuse, greed, war and man’s destruction of the environment are forms of violence. The martial arts study violence on a crude and basic level: the physical level. But the lessons and skills learned through correct practise can be used to recognise and combat violence on all levels.
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Technique
Most people look at the physical techniques of an art and think that this is all there is to the art. In reality the techniques are just one percent of what can be discovered in the martial arts. But they are a very crucial one percent. A practitioner’s ability to discover the remaining 99% will depend on the thoroughness with which he/she has studied the initial one percent.
Techniques are a gateway through which you have to pass to enter into the higher levels of martial art. Technique is a gateway to principle, and principle is a gateway to spirit. Spirit in turn is the gateway to complete transcendence.
Techniques are just tools. Tools serve a purpose, they perform certain functions. The functions of technique are numerous and range from combative effectiveness to physical health, to mental and spiritual development. Choose and shape your tools to best serve your purpose.
Technique can be very beautiful and it is easy to become attached to it, but always keep in mind that technique is just a tool that serves a purpose. A good workman never neglects his tools, he keeps them sharp, oiled and in good working order. Likewise, a martial artist should take pride in technique, keep it polished and ever ready. Blunt and sloppy tools are a danger to yourself and others, and they produce work of low quality. Sometimes bad technique is worse than no technique at all.
Techniques are just a small seed. You have to nurture the seed and make it grow into a big tree, make it your own. Humility
In our competitive modern culture people are always trying to assert themselves over others. Life is a struggle to get to the top of the pile or to stay as high on the pile as possible. In this insecure culture humility is seen as a weakness. But in fact humility – to be humble- is a great virtue and a sign of inner strength and security. Humility is also a corner stone of the learning process, because in order to learn you have to let go of the idea that you know better. In order to learn from another person you have to humble yourself and let go of the assumption that you are better or know more.
To be humble means to make yourself vulnerable and open to reality, and to be realistic about your abilities and position in life. Humility means letting go of the blind assumption that you and your way is automatically superior to other people and creatures and their ways.
The unsubstantiated assumption of superiority is called arrogance and it is the opposite of humility. Arrogance is surprisingly common among martial arts practitioners. So many people cling to notions like ‘I am best’ or ‘My style, my teacher, my country, is best’.The c if evidence to the contrary is staring them squarely in the face.
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Philosophy 
